US open: Stocks mixed in run up to Apple's Q4 earnings

US equities were mixed on Tuesday as a deluge of earnings were posted and traders awaited Apple’s fourth quarter results after the markets close.

At 1528 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.01% to 18,225.63 points whereas the S&P 500 fell 0.11% to 2,148.97 points and the Nasdaq declined 0.16% to 5,301.39 points.

Oil prices retreated, as Brent crude dropped 0.48% to $51.21 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was down 0.318% to $50.36 at 1515 BST.

“All eyes will be on Apple when it will announce its quarterly performance”, Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at ThinkMarkets, said. “Tim Cook has promised that services such as iTunes and other similar lines of business will start to make a meaningful figure for the firm's revenue.

“The biggest flop in phone launch history - Samsung Note 7- represented some real opportunities for Apple and the question is: does Apple have what it takes to break these loyal customers, not their phones only, but also the ecosystem? We are certainly not there yet and given the new secret investment projects the firm has taken on, we think the future is great.”

Pharmaceutical giant Merck’s shares were up 1.65% as the company reported better-than-expected third quarter revenue due to an increase of vaccine and cancer drug sales.

Sales rose 5% to $10.54bn compared to last year, which was above analysts’ expectations of $10.18bn.

Car maker General Motors' third quarter earnings also beat expectations as revenue edged up 10% to $42.83bn, a quarterly record and higher than the $39.3bn anticipated by analysts. Its shares were down 3.34%.

Shares Procter & Gamble climbed 4.33% after the consumer goods behemoth maintained the trend as it posted better than anticipated first quarter earnings, helped by strong demand for home care goods.

Sales were largely flat at $16.52bn, but the company beat expectations of $16.49bn.

Meanwhile, consumer confidence fell to 98.6 in October from 103.5 in September. The index was forecast to drop to 101.

Paul Sirani, chief market analyst at Xtrade, said: “Consumer confidence rose in September to its highest level in nine years, but that positivity has proven short-lived for Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen following a worse than expected October reading.

“Although the US economy is performing well on the whole, Yellen has been singled out for criticism by presidential candidate Donald Trump, who claims she is keeping interest rates low for political reasons. And it seems highly unlikely that she will pull the trigger before the presidential race in November, with a December rise more likely.”

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index rose by 5.3% for the year ended in August, an increase from 5% in July.

The 20-city composite index increased to 5.1% year-over-year, up from 5% in July and the 10 city composite index also rose 4.3%, up 4.1 from the prior month.

The Fed’s Dennis Lockhart is due to speak at 1820 BST and he is possibly the last speaker to comment before a blackout next week, although he is a non-voting member of the committee until 2018.